“Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.” Psalm 90:8
It does not take a rifle-bullet to destroy a life. Men have died from little scratch-wounds.
Some shepherds once saw an eagle soar out from a crag. It flew majestically far up into the sky, but by and by became unsteady in its motions, and began to waver in its flight. At length one wing drooped and then the other, and the poor bird struggled vainly for a moment, and then fell swiftly to the ground. The shepherds sought the fallen bird, and found that a poisonous little serpent had fastened itself upon it while it rested on the crag. The eagle did not know that the serpent was there. But the reptile gnawed in through the feathers, and while the proud monarch was sweeping through the air, the serpent’s fangs were thrust into its flesh, and the eagle came reeling down into the dust!
This illustrates the story of many a human life. For a time they seem quite promising; then suddenly they struggle and fall. Some secret sin has long been eating its way to the heart, and at last the proud life lies soiled and dishonored in the dust!
We need to be ever on our watch against these treacherous and insidious perils, these little, secret sins–which, unperceived, work death in the soul!–J. R. Miller
